New Struts for Eurovan Journey, something easier to pop the top

[mcbbcn]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share my findings and although, I'm not affiliated with GoWesty, I wanted to drop a positive note for Dennis and GoWesty and although I could not get what I wanted from them, I still highly recommend their well test products.

But, my findings start like this. I have an EVC 1999 top with some cross-bars and a small Yakima Basketcase and for the life of me, I could not push the top up without huge amount of strength.

So, I contacted GoWesty because I thought that one of my struts had gone bad or they were old, or something and decided to replace the old struts with the new GoWesty Struts.

1. I learned two things. The old struts were 100PSI and the GoWesty struts are a 100PSI. Also, for some kind of mystery, even with the top fully stretched, I could never get enough clearance to use the locking mechanism and the top was still very hard to pop. Also, my old struts did not have anything wrong with them but I thought I could benefit from having a locking mechanism from the GoWesty and they are not that expensive, so I bought them after asking Dennis a few questions. Dennis gave a good idea, he said "Empty the cargo box and see if it gets easier", and the funny thing is that although it got a bit easier, it was still very hard to pop the top with the cargo box empty and the top was still very hard to pop. And the uneasy feeling that the top really does not want to go up but actually, it makes this movement at the end of the run like it wants to come down. No great if you want if you want sleep upstairs....always using a piece of wood to lock the top.

2. I found an old TheSamba post with a reference to an strut and I found it on eBay. You have search eBay for "LGP10-280-120" or "SPD-GSNI-3100-120" and Bingo! There is this seller "randpcarriages" that sells each strut for $28.95 plus 3-day free shipping and I ordered them. Obviously, I was nervous because there is something about the little peculiarities of struts that you never know if you are getting the right part, but they came, and I replace them with no issues, and quite an improvement. Once, I got the pop started a little with my shoulders, I could finish pushing it up just with my fingers, and although it did not want to come down, I thought "Wouldn't it be great if I could give it an initial push and then it goes up on its own?" I had seen a video of Westy doing that using the GoWesty dual-strut system and I had a desire for that to happen with my top.

3. I searched if the same vendor had strut in 150psi. I reached out to them and yes, they had it. So, I ordered them, replace them and Bingo! I could help the top a little bit, and then the magic happened...the top wanted to lift on its own. And how about bring it down? See below...

What I learned about these struts is that they don't come from China, they come from Turkey and they look very high quality. I was concerned about being able to bring the top down, because I had read somewhere that the 120PSI made is already very difficult to bring the top down, but nothing farther from reality. The 120PSI required no effort bring the top down with my current top weight. By the way, I did all these tests with my cargo box empty, and my Yakima Basket empty too.

About the 150PSI. Well, they are a joy to pop up, and for bring them down, I have to do a bit to pull them up a bit, but it's not issue and I weight 145lbs, and it is a lot easier -at least for me- to pull the top down than to push the top up, and once I put some stuff in my cargo box, I doubt I'm going to have to do any effort at all. I'm sure it will feel as the 120PSI.

I discussed with Dennis, and they are planning to test them and make sure the roof can take that stress. It's a fair question, because it's 33% more up strength that it was before but I feel the plates should disperse some of that and if there are issues, you can always place a large plate in between to disperse the energy even more.

What I know for sure is that my back is going to going to appreciate these struts a lot more that the previous ones and I hope my journey can help you make some decisions about what you need based on the weight you carry on top.

Best,

Miquel

[dixoncj]

EVC Winnebago pop-tops are not nearly as strong as Westfalia ones. I’d be a little concerned about the stress those struts could put on the roof. Keep us updated and watch closely for any buckling or cracks!

[mcbbcn]

[mcbbcn]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to give an update.

It's been over a year using the new strouts and problems with the roof (or any signs of stress issues) even when it's not as strong as a Westfalia. The 150psi makes the lifting a breeze.

Miquel

[sagavan]

Hi Miquel, I thought I might revive this and ask how the pop top is doing two years later?

I also found the same seller you purchased them from and the model for the 150PSI. Are these the ones you purchased?

https://needatrailerpart.com/products/gas-spring-s...amper-door

I’m going to order a couple and will report back as well.

[Abscate]

As long as you keep the hardware bolts tight you could put 500 psi on those struts and it wouldn’t cause damage.

The shear force is reduced by the angle and , dispersed across all the fasteners, will be well below the break point of either the FG or plastic tops ( T4, T4 Camper, Resp.)
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.ssS!

[dazey77]

I went through this on mine too, with an EU bias. Both the roof and the kitchen counter struts. I don't have as much on the roof as you. I went through a 100lb first and then ended up wth a 112lb but should probably have gone with a 120lb. Everything is sold in Nm here though.

Code is GS10-22-300-350 in UK and you buy the ends seperatly (13mm ball sockets) and you specify whatever force you want when ordering

My write ups here:
http://www.dazedproductions.co.uk/Vanity/uncategorized/winnebago-gas-struts-in-eu/
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My van modification blog:
www.dazedproductions.co.uk/Vanity

[sagavan]

This is great info, thank you all! I had similar thoughts regarding how the struts actually place stress on the roof. My thoughts would be it is free force while the roof is lifting and then once the struts reach the end of their stroke, it isn’t exerting any more force, right? At the end of its stroke it should become the same as a locking strut that no longer absorbs any force.

So everyone has the info on these struts I posted above (in inches):

The extended length: 28”
Compressed length: 16”
Stroke: 11”

Rod diameter: 10mm
Strut Ends: 13mm

I also found the same supplier has 200 psi locking struts:

https://needatrailerpart.com/products/gas-spring-s...amper-door

[Phogman]

Greetings:

Wanted to add my two cents as I just recently replaced my old struts (no idea how old they were having bought the 2002 Westfalia Weekender used) with the GoWesty struts.

The first old strut came off easy. Watched a few videos (including the GoWesty version) and for the life of me I COULD NOT get the new strut to compress to length (about 4 inches too long to fit) using the ratchet strap + rope trick shown by GoWesty. Rope kept breaking (rather unsettling when that happens!) and I tried a number of different ways to secure the base strap, to no avail.

Called around to a few repair shops describing my problem and a few offered to try and install for $96/hr being the best deal. Then I had an epiphany.

Instead of hooking the strap hook to a rigged rope (I even used clamped wire and that failed) loop system, I wrapped the ratchet STRAP around both ends, being careful to allow room for the ball socket to slip onto the ball. It's tricky in that you have to figure out the right position to place the ratchet (about 2/3'rds up the strut) to make it work. I ratcheted it snug on the ground (only way to properly position the strap around the strut) with the ball clip on the then attached the lower end to the ball. From there it was maybe 7-10 pumps on the ratchet and voila! Slipped the top end on, removed the strap ... carefully ... and did the same on the other side.

Hope this is helpful to someone in a similar jam. I spent a lot of time, sweat and almost some tears, getting this project done.

Full disclosure ... I stumbled on a video of a guy doing the same thing to install struts on his RV awning ... I'm not sharp enough to figure this stuff out on my own.

Sent an email to GoWesty suggesting they do a new video using this technique for their library - could easily splice in the new technique with minimal effort - so we'll see if they get to it.

BA - - -

2002 Wesfalia Weekender 'Old Folks Home'
West Olive, MI

[JohnBonn]

Interested, am I missing something? We have a 2001 Weekender with the Westfalia top and our lift gas struts are 44 1/4” long extended with ball ends.
PN GSEL 1022-2050-090 I am thinking the 090 is the inch lbs so want to go up to 150. Any assistance would be great!

[vankoopa]